NEWSWIRE

FIRE IS BACK IN BABYLON

West Indies have won their first T20 Cricket World Cup and their first major international trophy in 8 years handily defeating Sri Lanka in Colombo. A much hyped final between the might of West Indies against the finesse of the Sri Lanka's turned out to be a fairly lobsided affair as West Indies won the match by 36 runs.

Batting first after winning the toss, West Indies sturggled to get going early on as both Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles fell cheaply leaving the Windies in a huge hole. Despite the poor start, Marlon Samuels came to the party in a big way smashing 78 off 56 balls. Samuels was particularily severe on Lasitha Malinga (0-54) and rescued a stalled innings. Skipper Darren Sammy played a late cameo with 26 runs off 15 balls to pull his team to 137.

Things started off poorly for Sri Lanka with the bat as Ravi Rampaul delivered the ball of the tournament to remove Tilakartne Dilshan and it was all West Indies after that. Mahela Jayawardene (33) and Kumar Sangakara (22) offered some resistance but a perfectly executed game plan by Sammy's men ensured that Sri Lanka did not get close. Samuel Badree (1-24) opened the bowling with Rampaul and tied down the Sri Lankan batsmen early on while Sammy and Sunil Naraine did their job to clean up the middle order. Sharp fielding from the West Indies inflicted two run outs to halt any progress that the Sri Lankan's could make. Nuwan Kulasekera (26) made a late flourish to ensure Sri Lanka got to three figures but the match was never in doubt as West Indies coasted to victory.

Cricket Canada President Ravin Moorthy congratulated the West Indies on the significance of the victory

"On behalf of all cricketers in Canada, we congratulate the West Indies Cricket Board on this victory today. A strong West Indies Cricket program is great news for all of us in North America especially Canada. With the strong ties between our two boards and the hundreds of thousands of supporters of the West Indies in Canada, it is sure to be a well celebrated win across our country"